The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), which undertakes activities for standardizing recent mobile communication systems, is in the process of creating specifications for the Evolved Packet System (EPS), which realizes an all-IP-based architecture (see NPL 1). EPS is a mobile communication system through which mobile operators and the like provide mobile telephone services, and is constituted of a core network called the Evolved Packet Core (EPC), an access network based on the Long Term Evolution (LTE) radio communication standard, and the like.
In developing the specifications for EPS, the 3GPP is further considering dedicated core networks (DECOR) for the purpose of overlaying core networks. According to DECOR, a communication system has multiple networks overlaid therein, and terminal devices that connect to different networks in a manner that depends on, for example, their respective terminal types. This configuration makes it possible to distribute terminal traffic in a manner that depends on the terminal type, and manage traffic in a manner that depends on the terminal type.
For example, the configuration can accommodate machine to machine (M2M) terminals by connecting to an M2M-dedicated core network, which is more prevalent recently, whereas normal mobile phone terminals such as smartphones connect to a main core network.